KUALA LUMPUR: The local market started on a strong note before descending into negative territory and finally ending the morning session relatively unchanged.
While the rout in tech stocks seems to have been halted by Apple's stellar earnings results on Wall Street, the escalating trade war continued to gnaw at global investor nerves, muting gains from positive corporate earnings results
At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI was up 0.27 points to 1,778.40. Trading volume was slow with 960.96 million shares done worth a value of RM685.97mil. There were 341 gainers versus 334 decliners and 384 counters unchanged.
In the spotlight today, Gamuda and Kumpulan Perangsang Selangor
were suspended for Friday trade pending the release of a material announcement.
StarBiz Online reported that the suspension could be owing to the resolution of the impasse in the Selangor water deal.
Tenaga Nasional led gains on the index with a 16 sen rise to RM15.44. Petronas Gas rose 18 sen to RM19.18 while Sime Darby Plantation climbed four sen to RM5.22.
Axiata slipped back seven sen to RM4.32 while CIMB dropped four sen to RM5.81 and Hong Leong Bank fell 16 sen to RM19.04.
On the broader market, MAHB added 14 sen to RM9.70, Carslberg rose 16 sen to RM19.18 and United Plantation jumped RM1.08 to RM27.88.
To the losing end, Litrak shaved 22 sen to RM4.28, Rapid slid 16 sen to RM5.79 and Cahya Mata Sarawak dropped 14 sen to RM3.09.
Oil prices were supported by traders placing new hedges in the futures market in anticipation of a decline in US crude inventories, Reuters reported.
WTI crude edged up four cents to US$60 a barrel while Brent crude dipped six cents to US$73.39 a barrel.
In currences, the ringgit slid against the strengthening dollar to 4.0795 but strengthened 0.36% against the pound sterling to 5.3113 and 0.1% against the Singapore dollar to 2.9800.
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